Ammiras Cromey

Ammiras Cromey (1789-11 August 1821) was an American slave who led a failed 1821 slave uprising in North Carolina from the Eastville plantation, near the city of Fayetteville. Cromey was hanged after the uprising was put down.

Biography
Ammiras Cromey was born into slavery in 1789 on the Eastville plantation, and he grew up with plantation owner Jonas Gibson, who bullied him because of his skin color and status. Cromey was regularly beaten by overseer Eli Power because of his defiance, but on 9 June 1821 the last straw happened when Eli Power beat another slave to death. Cromey decided to rise up against his master, and Cromey and ten other slaves murdered Power in his sleep the next night. Gibson found out about his death that day, and he threatened to kill a slave every day until the murderer gave himself up. On 12 June, Cromey and other slaves broke into the shed and picked up farm equipment such as pickaxes, sickles, and pitchforks and took over the plantation, capturing Gibson as he tried to flee. He was beaten unconscious before he was stabbed through the chest and then crucified on two pikes as a symbol of the start of the rebellion. Cromey decided to lead the able-bodied slaves of Eastville on a campaign of terror against whites and plantations in the surrounding areas, and he lynched Tobias Glenn on 4 July and freed his slave Jothan Semple, who became his second-in-command. Cromey liberated other plantations and freed slaves to join his uprising, but on 11 August 1821 militia commander Jonathan Spurlock led some white militiamen to encircle the slave rebels at their Eastville plantation base and end the uprising. Cromey decided to lead a last stand against the whites, and he died in the fighting alongside all other slaves in the revolt.